Angela Ahrendts, who is about to upload her wealth of fashionista knowledge to Apple as its freshly installed retail chief, will collect a Dame of the British Empire award in the next few weeks.
The American national was drafted in by the iPad and iPhone maker to a new role at Apple to head up its worldwide retail and online …

Apple retail store staffers, routinely frisked for stolen goods at the end of a shift or before breaks, complained to Tim Cook of being treated like “criminals”, as part of a written policy that was “demeaning”.
The claim was contained in a 2013 lawsuit filed in California, parts of which the judge unsealed yesterday, that seeks …

Apple plans to expand sales of the Apple Watch to new markets later this month, even though it will still be a couple of weeks before it can catch up with its existing backlog of orders.
The Cupertino firm said its coveted wrist accessory will go on sale in Italy, Mexico, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, and Taiwan …

Apple's Sir Jony Ive has been promoted from design supremo to design chief.
9to5mac reports that Apple CEO Tim Cook has anointed him the company's first ever chief design officer. The outlet claims to have the text of a letter Cook sent to Apple staff in which the CEO says Ive “will remain responsible for all of our design, …

The Apple exec tipped to take over as head of its Retail unit has just quit the company, it was announced yesterday.
Jerry McDougal, vice president of Retail at Apple since 2000 has resigned to spend more time with his family.
McDougal's exit comes three months after his former boss John Browett, was booted out from his role as …

With the rumored launch date of the next iPhone fast approaching, Apple on Friday began allowing iPhone owners to trade in their old handsets at the company's Apple Retail Stores in the US.
"iPhones hold great value," an Apple spokeswoman told the AFP news service. "So, Apple Retail Stores are launching a new program to assist …

Apple on Friday fired up its iBeacon push-notification service, which it describes as a "location and proximity detection technology," in its 254 US retail stores – minus at least one, but more on that in a moment – adding a new dimension to fanbois' shopping experiences just in time for the holiday spending spree.
iBeacon sends …

Apple doesn't just construct retail stores it brews a magical experience that transforms your very existence, or so said Ron Johnson, former retail veep at the firm.
Did someone say ahem...bullshit? No of course not.
The man - now CEO at loss-making J.C. Penny - gave an insight into the cerebral workings of an Apple exec during …

Apple's brick-and-mortar stores rake in over twice the income per square foot as the US second-place earner, luxury retailer Tiffany & Co.
According to a new study by the research firm Retail Sails, Apple's real-world stores earned an average of $6,050 per square foot during the year ending in June. Tiffany pulled in a distant $ …

The Apple retail concession in posh London department store Selfridges has been sold to Ireland's largest Apple Premium Reseller, giving it a ready-made route into the wallets of rich Arabs the wealthy elite.
Directors at Square Group last week sold the B2B operation to Nottingham-based Jigsaw24, which is run by channel veteran …

What will you be buying your loved one for Valentine's Day next year? Not an Apple Watch, it seems, as this much-anticipated gizmo is now set to be released in the spring of 2015.
Apple retail supremo Angela Ahrendts revealed the timing of the release in a leaked video message.
In a rather saucy-sounding missive, the former …

If you're pumped about using the new iPads' multi-carrier Apple SIM in the US, don't pick AT&T as your first choice – or you'll lose the ability to switch to another operator altogether.
Cupertino's marketing claims the new, flashable Apple SIM that comes in the iPad Air 2 and iPad Mini 3 allows customers to "choose the plan …

Samsung has fired another shot across Apple's bow, having announced that it plans to open a chain of own-branded retail stores across Europe.
It won't do it all on its own, though. Instead, the Korean giant plans to crack the European market with the help of local "preferred partner" Carphone Warehouse.
The UK-based mobile …

The allure of leading Apple's store strategy, coupled with a generous restricted stock package of 100,000 shares, currently valued at $623 a unit, saw Browett flee the CEO's office at Dixons Retail in January.
In the SEC document, Apple revealed the Brit received 5,000 shares but 2,159 were sold for tax withholding purposes.
He …

A lawsuit against Apple by disgruntled employees has just been granted class-action status, potentially creating a payday for staff who say the firm held back their wages and stopped them from taking rest breaks.
The lawsuit (PDF), originally filed in 2011 by former Apple retail and corporate staff, claims that managers …

Apple has denied that a breach of its iCloud service is the reason for an outbreak of ransomware infecting Australian iThing users.
Australian Apple owners yesterday complained that their beloved hardware iStuff had been remotely locked by a chap identifying himself as Oleg Pliss and demanding a PayPal transfer of $AUD50 to …

Apple CEO Tim Cook has shared a range of different thoughts and announcements in his keynote address to a Goldman Sachs conference today. During this event he was interviewed by the firm's president, Gary Cohn, who almost drooled as he listed Apple's last financial results. He notified Cook that during his speech, Apple had …

Apple and Microsoft both have their own, dedicated retail stores. Can Google be far behind? If the rumors are true, the answer is "not at all," with the first Google stores due to open by the end of this year.
Citing "an extremely reliable source," the gossipmongers at 9to5Google report that the Chocolate Factory is hard at work …

Improved security features in iOS 8 prevent Apple from unlocking phones – even when requested to by law enforcement. But search warrant-holding cops can still get almost everything through iCloud backups, according to ElcomSoft.
The consumer device manufacturer's attempts at upgrading iOS encryption to "defeat lawful search …

Apple has quietly updated several of its iPod media players with a new color option to match its latest flagship smartphone, the iPhone 5S.
The new mobe, which debuted at a media event in Cupertino on Tuesday, comes in three different color schemes: the rather prosaic Silver and Gold, and the oddly named "Space Gray". Now a few …

Concerned that the blue-shirt in the Apple Store isn't paying enough attention to your questions about charger adapters for your iPhone 5?
Maybe that's because she's trying to correct the location of the local airport on Apple's Maps application.
One of Apple's new strategies for fixing iOS Maps is to get their retail staff to …

Comment
John Browett must be pinching himself after his stint as Apple's retail veep came to an abrupt and unceremonious end this week, despite stellar numbers from his division of the firm.
Just seven months into the prestigious role, the Brit was shown the door for an unspecified reason at the same time as Scott Forstall, senior veep …

Quotw
This was the week when some of the titans of tech hung out at Goldman Sachs Technology and Internet conference talking about their problems. First up was Tim Cook, who was pooh-poohing a lawsuit filed by Greenlight Capital hedge-fund honcho David Einhorn. The suit is attempting to stop Apple from amending its charter to …

Apple has admitted to world+dog that some of the 27-inch iMacs that it sold between May 2011 and October 2012 have a suspect graphics card, and that if you own one of the affected models, it'll replace the possibly wonky card for free.
The 27-inch iMacs sold during that period were equipped with either an AMD Radeon HD 6770M or …

The former head of Apple Retail has found a new job, selling handbags and scarves at the head of Monsoon's Accessorize chain.
John Browett only lasted seven months at Cupertino, before Tim Cook edged him out in a reshuffle in September that also saw the end of Apple's software chief Scott Forstall.
Browett is credited with …

Apple has quietly reintroduced an iPhone accessory that was discontinued when the iPhone 5 was unveiled last September: the lowly but in some quarters much-missed charging and syncing dock.
Apparently, Apple didn't want to clutter up its Tuesday-morning rollout of the iPhone 5C and 5S with a mention of such a quotidian piece of …

Apple didn't pay any corporation tax in the UK last year, according to its latest filings in the country, adding to controversy at home about its imaginative tax planning.
The fruity firm's main British subsidiaries Apple (UK), Apple Europe and Apple Retail UK reported pre-tax profits between them of £68m in the year to …

The business card of an Apple store employee in Vancouver has gone loco on the internet as the world delighted in the fact that he was called Sam Sung.
Toronto Web Developer Shaun O'Toole tweeted a photo of Sam Sung's Apple Store business card two days ago and it has been reposted all over the web.
Despite rumours that the …

An intruder stole Apple kit worth over $60,000 from the Apple Store in Boulder, Colorado, but caused more financial damage by breaking the door, reports ABC News Denver.
The custom-made glass door of the Apple Store on 29th Street in Boulder cost $100K.
The Apple burglar - described by cops as a hooded man armed with three …

Apple's total share value pushed beyond the totemic $500 billion mark it reached two weeks ago to hit a heady $542 billion in trading this morning. That made the iPad seller worth more than the entire American Retail Sector, as defined by the Standard & Poor's survey of the top 500 American retailers.
Apple v Retail Sector, …

VimpelCom, the last of the "Big Three" Russian mobile carriers to stock the iPhone in its stores, has reportedly discontinued the device, leaving all of Russia with just one retail supplier for Cupertinian kit.
Russia is one of the world's largest mobile markets, with over 230 million mobile subscribers, according to research …

A cider shop in Norfolk has had to change its name after receiving up to 24 phone calls a week from fanbois with computer problems.
Since an Apple Store opened in Norwich, locals have been calling mistakenly phoning the Apple Shop in Wroxham Barns, with their iPhone and Apple-related woes.
Apple Shop owner Geoff Fisher told the …

Microsoft is re-hatching its plan to accelerate retail store expansion in the US before turning its sights on the rest of the world.
Microsoft's planned new stores Store locator: Microsoft's retail expansion in the next three years
The first iteration came in 1999, when Microsoft set up a shop in San Francisco – but efforts …

Analysis
Cloud king Marc Benioff has hailed "future Apple CEO" Angela Ahrendts, Apple’s new head of retail and online sales, as "the most important hire Tim Cook has ever made".
Some have interpreted the tweet by Benioff, chief executive of software-as-a-service success Salesforce.com, as more than just a bit of encouragement for his …

The founder of a union for Apple retail workers has quit his job after two years spent battling for better pay and job prospects.
Cory Moll, who works in San Francisco, founded the union in 2011 and has been an outspoken critic of the fruity firm's treatment of its staff.
At the time of writing, no one had stepped up to fill …

Apple's retail expansion into Glasgow has claimed a casualty - an Apple retail outlet operated for 10 years by Scotsys.
John McAleenan, Scotsys managing director, told The Register that the firm couldn’t compete against the might of Apple, which opened its desirable "destination shop in a class A location" a year ago.
"We tried …

Microsoft is clearly not content with simply apeing Apple’s razzle-dazzle retail stores - it’s reportedly now trying to poach some of the iPod maker’s staff, too.
According to the Loop, Redmond has got in touch with several of Apple’s retail bosses in an effort to woo them over to Microsoft’s forthcoming retail stores, which as …

Controversialist and online retailer Ruslan Kogan has caused a minor sensation by using a conference stage to say that successful bricks-and-mortar retailers are “Apple’s bitch”.
The thrust of his argument – ignoring, by the way, that most bricks-and-mortar retail in Australia has nothing to do with the consumer electronics …

Apple CEO Tim Cook has a low opinion of a lawsuit filed by Greenlight Capital hedge-fund honcho David Einhorn that seeks to prevent Apple from amending its charter to allow the issuance of preferred stock without the approval of its shareholders.
"I find it bizarre we find ourselves being sued for doing something that's good for …

Apple is cutting down on UK retail staff at its stores in Milton Keynes and Essex: blueshirted fanbois on short-term contracts will get the heave-ho, sources in the Mac channel claim.
Industry talk of layoffs in Apple's shops surfaced in MacRumours earlier this week. Apple has refused to officially comment though a contradictory …

An insight into what Microsoft’s new Apple store might look like “leaked” onto the interwebs late last week.
Gizmodo posted some screenshots of Microsoft’s retail store plans on Friday. The software giant later confirmed the designs were genuine.
Design and brand consultant firm Lippicott worked from prototypes and concepts …

When Apple says orders for the iPhone five will open on September 14th, that's exactly what the Curpertino-centric company means.
We know this because El Reg's antipodean eyrie has chatted to the call centres of local carriers, and has been told they won't take any calls about the new handset until 17:01 Sydney time. That's a …

Apple plans to refurbish 100 of its retail stores this year, just as Microsoft prepares its first tentative moves into the bricks-and-mortar sector.
Ron Johnson, Apple's senior vice president of retail, is reported to have said the Cupertino computer consumer-electronics trend-setter will buff up its retail spaces by adding room …

An Italian regulator has fined Apple €900,000 ($1.17m) for trying to sell a two-year extended warranty when customers were entitled to such a thing for free under Italian law.
Apple offered a one-year warranty, with an option to extend that cover under an AppleCare Protection Plan, but Italian law says that all goods have to …

A study of traffic and productivity in Apple’s retail arm makes worrying reading for Cupertino, according to a new analysis by Asymco.
In an age when traditional retailers are complaining about online traders stealing their customers, Apple has a different set of problems – too many people. While Apple has some of the most …

The world + dog has been following the announcements from Apple today, but for one employee watching the preparations, the chief wish wasn't a shiny new fondleslab or fancy TV system, but union rights.
Cory Moll, an organizer for the Apple Retail Workers Union (ARWU), popped by the event before clocking in for work at his local …

Updated
Attention iPhone 5 owners: your Cupertinian earslab may be defective.
"Apple has determined that the sleep/wake button mechanism on a small percentage of iPhone 5 models may stop working or work intermittently," a notice posted on Apple's support website informed us iPhone 5 owners on Friday. "iPhone 5 models manufactured …

Apple has begun training its US store managers on how to deal with attempts by retail workers to organise themselves into unions.
According to a document seen by Cnet, the course will provide managers with "a practical understanding of how unions affect the workplace, how and why employees organize, and the legal do's and don'ts …

Early this morning, three different Cnet reporters blogged from three different retail stores in the San Francisco Bay Area. And two others blogged from more retail stores in New York City.
Announcing the plans to cover the retail stores, Cnet's Tom Krazit, a veteran of the online tech-news outfit, promised that the team of …